Hiraeth
by prettylily
Summary: Sakura Haruno finds herself in Konoha during the Warring States Era, where she meets the founders.
1. Prolouge

Hi! I'm prettylily! This is my first story that's been weighing on my mind, telling me to write this down and share it to the world. Haha, personally it took me a really long time to actually write it, but hey! I did it! I know this is a short chapter, but bear with me please! I'll try to make it more lengthy as the story progresses. So, hope you enjoy~

(P.S Please go easy on me! I apologize for any grammar mistakes ahead of time! And please tell me what you think!)

Hiraeth: A homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was.

* * *

Sakura woke up with a jolt.

For a brief moment she thought she was dreaming. She ran her fingers on the soft grass around her, momentarily lost by soft glow of the morning light.

Where was she?

She could only remember… She choked, hand flying to her mouth to stifle her tearless sobs, _Tobirama_ …

She shook her head, desperately attempting to calm down. Tobirama would be scolding her right now for her moment of weakness before taking her somewhere private to let her cry in peace.

It wasn't safe yet. _Constant Vigilance_ he had always told her.

She sighed with relief when she saw her seals, her weapons pouch on one thigh, and her medical pouch on the other, at least she was equipped. Alert, she scanned her surroundings, not recognizing the landmarks around her.

When Sakura began feeling the familiar tendrils of panic, she stubbornly shoved her fear away. Shinobi mask falling into place, Sakura cautiously stood up, making sure that she was silent. Closing her eyes, she felt around for any foreign chakra.

Nothing.

She had to get to higher ground. It was too dangerous here.

Shakily standing on her feet, she took a deep breath before sprinting north, intent on finding out what happened.

…

She stood on top of the tallest mountain peak, scanning her surroundings. She was in Tsuchi no Kuni, a mile from their Hidden Village. Or a mile from where Iwagakure no Sato should be. Closing her eyes, she concentrated harder. The Hidden Rock Village just wasn't there. It was as if… the Hidden Village didn't exist. Cursing, she easily made her way down before sprinting toward Konoha's direction, if it even was there.

Since waking up, she had been trying to remember what had happened. She could only remember requesting to leave the village indefinitely as she mourned for… she had only been gone for a few months before… something. She snarled, head hurting as she began pumping chakra to her legs. It would take the average shinobi a full three days to get to Konoha. She didn't have that kind of time, she would have to push herself to the brink to get there by the evening. She had to make sure her precious people were safe.

…

It was a few hours past noon when she arrived at Konoha's borders. Ever since leaving Iwa, her head had begun hurting as she made her way south. She had ignored the pain in favor of concentrating as she traveled, but now entering Konoha's borders, it was becoming unbearable, even for her. She remembered perfecting hirashin to suit her needs and rubbing it in… his face before… she shook her head.

There wasn't time for that.

She would hirashin to Konoha, make sure everything was normal and maybe bribe Tsunade to go drinking with her in the pretense of checking her health, before leaving and to continue traveling. Concentrating on her seal, she felt around for her seal under Kakashi's desk at the Hokage Tower. Her eyes shot open. It wasn't there.

Fuck.

Swearing out loud, she sprinted as fast as possible to Konoha, silently pleading to kami to help her get there in time before it was too late.

…

Sakura had ran and ran, praying to the deities above that nothing had happened to them and that Tsunade had broken Kakashi's desk as she scolded him for reading his porn in his office and that was that. But with Team Seven's penchant for luck… she could assume the worst. The familiar feeling of dread in her stomach did nothing to soothe her fears. If she hurried she could get to Konoha within an hour.

She ran faster, ignoring the burning pain festering in her head.

…

Sakura could see the back of the Hokage mountain, she ran faster, pumping more chakra than she should in her desperation to reach the village. Scaling the mountain was easy, once she was at the top, processing what she saw was hard.

Gone was the Konoha she knew, in the village's place were multiple tents scattered along with a few wooden buildings. Everything was small. Nothing was permanent.

In Sakura's defense, she had freaked out, unintentionally spiking her chakra. By the time she drew a kunai, she felt several men surround her with their weapons drawn.

"Who are you?"

She turned to address the speaker, harsh words at the tip of her tongue, only to die at her throat.

In front of her was Hashirama Senju, to his left was Madara Uchiha, and his right was Tobirama Senju.

Sakura later on, would say that her headache and weakened body were the reasons why she had collapsed.

She would rather break every bone in her body before admitting to anyone that she had fainted because she saw the very much alive form of her deceased mentor, Tobirama Senju.

Damn it.

* * *

Again, tell me what you think! I'd really appreciate it!


	2. Chapter 1

Hello again! Sorry for the late update… I had a bit of trouble finishing up the chapter. I forgot to mention in the last chapter, but this fanfiction is a bit AU. Just a little twist in things… And a few chapters may be a bit OOC… I apologize if I cannot fully grasp their personalities! Thank you for all the support and reviews! Again, please tell me what you think!

* * *

 _The Haruno clan is widely known as a merchant clan specializing in two different products. The females are known for creating high quality silk with delicate and intricate designs. The males however, were well known for creating the best weapons found in Konoha. Their craft, requires excellent chakra control. To weave silk using chakra and extracting iron from their own blood―the Haruno clan extracts iron from blood believing that their blood is a richer and better-quality source of iron that couldn't be found elsewhere―to them, chakra is everything. Occasionally, someone of the opposite gender would learn the other craft, making weapons as intricate as the patterns on silk kimonos, or silk with hidden weapons intended for espionage. Their loyalty sworn to Konoha, as they travel throughout the Five Great Nations, they gather information that they believe would benefit Konoha, a clan of spies._

 _Every generation, the clan head would have a kekkei genkai, Maji―the ability to merge multiple elements. They used their ability as discreetly as possible, only wishing to protect the clan. Every once in a while, the clan heir would swear their loyalty to Konoha and serve as a shinobi, their skill often, was unparalleled._

 _…_

 _"_ _Sakura! Get back here!"_

 _Sakura turned and waved frantically to the old man leisurely walking. "Hurry up Tatsuo-san! Ai-san promised to teach me how to forge a chakra blade today! He never teaches anyone unless they're 10, and I'm 4! Imagine, at the rate I'm going, I'll be better than Ai-san by the time I'm 10!"_

 _Tatsuo chuckled, amused of the young girl's antics. "Well, better hurry along then. You have much to learn if you want to be better than Ai-san in 6 years." Sakura hurriedly nodded and sprinted towards Ai's shop._

 _"_ _Oi! Slow down! Give this old man a break, will you?" He ran a hand through his grey-streaked hair in frustration, before looking up at the sky. "Back then, any child would have been scolded for being too energetic," he sighed, "Where did the time go?" Chuckling, he looked at the bubbly child happily rambling to an apathetic Ai as he made his way over, intending on preventing Ai from mutilating himself to avoid Sakura's chattering before he could teach Sakura how to forge a blade._

 _Sakura would complain for days, and he much preferred his ears where they are._

 _…_

 _It was nearing dark when Ai had finished teaching Sakura how to forge her first chakra blade. Tatsuo had rented out a room at a nearby hotel so that the two traveling companions could rest before making their way back to Konoha in the morning. He had sent Sakura to bed a few hours ago and was just beginning to settle when he heard Sakura get up. He mentally groaned, hoping that if he stayed still and pretended to be asleep, Sakura would pity him and leave him alone._

 _"_ _Tatsuo-san."_

 _The man grumbled before blearily opening one eye. "What do you want brat?"_

 _He could feel her hesitation and nervous energy before she spoke, "My eyes are hurting." He got up, alarmed, her mother was going to kill him if she was harmed. His head swerved, eyes focusing on her face, only to freeze. Bright red eyes stared back at him. The Sharingan._ _...When did she? He took a calming breath, he couldn't panic, Sakura was probably stressing out enough._

 _"_ _What do you see?"_

 _She squinted, "Everything." she paused, "Did you know that you have a hair growing on your mole?"_

 _Tatsuo sighed, cheeky brat. He grabbed her shoulders firmly, careful not to hurt her. "Sakura, under no circumstances are you to tell anyone about this, am I clear?" Seeing her nod hesitantly, his grip loosened a bit, "What you have is known as the sharingan. It is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha Clan. You remember what a kekkei genkai is form our last lesson is, right?"_

 _She nodded, eager to learn more, "Kekkei genkai are abilities that are passed down genetically within clans. It is possible for people to have more than one kekkei genkai, however due to the clan belief that mixing blood with other clans would dilute the purity of the clan's blood and make their kekkei genkai weaker, intermarriages between clans with kekkei genkais are usually avoided."_

 _Tatsuo nodded with approval, "Good, you already know the basics. It is true that clans tend to avoid marrying other clans with kekkei genkais but it's not unheard of. Your grandmother was an Uchiha who married your grandfather, eventually they had your mother, and your mother had you. Fortunately, your grandmother never unlocked the sharingan, which is why the Uchiha clan allowed her to marry outside of the clan. Your mother had the potential to unlock the sharingan, but she chose to live a civilian lifestyle. It seems that the potential from the previous generations unlocked your kekkei genkai without needing the usual process."_

 _Sakura tilted her head to the side, "Usual process?"_

 _"_ _In order to unlock the sharingan, a great sacrifice is needed," he explained. "Before we do anything, turn off the sharingan. It's draining too much of your chakra."_

 _Tatsuo carefully watched Sakura as she scrunched her face, trying to deactivate her sharingan. After what seemed like the third attempt, he decided to give her a hint, "It's like a light switch, focus on the pathway in your eyes and locate where the chakra flow is. Concentrate, and stop sending chakra to your eyes."_

 _After seeing her nod in understanding, he turned to grab a scroll and some ink. He quickly wrote a quick message to his long-time friend and summoned a cat. After giving the cat a quick set of instructions, he attached the scroll to the cat's collar and the cat disappeared in a cloud of smoke. By the time his attention was back on Sakura, he noticed that she had fallen asleep on his bed. Sighing, he moved to cover her with a blanket. He knew he wouldn't need a bed tonight._

 _There were more important things to do._

 _…_

 _Sarutobi stared disbelievingly at the scroll Tatsuo sent him. The sharingan found outside of the Uchiha clan? If anyone were to find out, the child's life would be in danger. He carefully stored the scroll in a drawer hidden under his desk. There was already so much tension between the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha. The Uchiha would demand that she either married into the clan, or that she be executed. It would create even more upheaval. Her life would indeed be in danger, whether it was physically or mentally. He had to act accordingly._

 _"_ _Boar."_

 _The anbu appeared, kneeling down, ready for orders._

 _"_ _Summon Danzo."_

 _Danzo would know what needed to be done._

…

Sakura woke up with a jolt. Gasping for breath, she shot out of the futon and summoned one of her kunai. Eyes wet with tears, she looked at her surroundings. _Constant Vigilance_ she reminded herself.

It looked like she was in a traditional styled room, the ones she saw at the Hyuga manor and the Uchiha compound. Her eyes roamed the simplistic room, eyeing the doorway that led to the outside, making notes on possible escape routes. The bathroom was at the other side, and another doorway seemed to lead to the hallway connecting all the rooms.

She applied pressure on the tatami floors, it was hollow; shinobi could easily hide and ambush the room's inhabitants. She could sense one under the floor. It was a smart move, they don't know who she is. Nodding with approval, she headed toward the exit. It was dusk, she absentmindedly noted.

Time to leave and figure out what the fuck is going on here.

Sakura managed to open the window and crouch on the windowsill when the shoji doors slid open, slamming onto the other side. She flinched. _Did these people have no tact?_ What kind of person, no matter who they were or what training they had, announced their presence so bluntly?

Sakura warily eyed the woman who entered the room. She was tall, about 5'7, with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. _Civilian_ , she mentally catalogued as she silently observed the woman's clothing. The woman was wearing a dark green yukata, the ones civilians used that limited a shinobi's movement.

Sakura still crouched on the windowsill, merely stared as the two women eyed each other awkwardly, silently daring the other to speak first, before the civilian woman broke the silence "Oh," the civilian woman exclaimed, hand rising belatedly to her chest, "You're awake… How are you feeling?"

Nodding slightly to answer the civilian's inquiries, Sakura turned her head to look longingly outside.

Damn it. She was so close.

"I'm Chizue by the way," the civilian continued on as she not-so-quietly closed the door. As if it was completely normal to have a conversation with someone on a windowsill "You've been asleep for a day now. Would you like to bathe? You look like you need one."

Startled by the woman's bluntness, Sakura stared for a quick second before blushing and shyly agreed.

As if the tension broke, Sakura slowly got down from the windowsill as the woman laughed and showed her to the bathroom, telling her what was what before exiting, promising to bring food and a change of clothes in a few minutes.

Once Chizue had left, Sakura quickly stripped out of her dirty shinobi garbs, fully intending on washing them later, scrubbed the sweat and dirt off of her, resisting the urge to relax her aching muscles, she had to scope out the dangers first.

Silently drying herself and riding any evidence that she was in the bathroom, Sakura exited the bathroom with a robe wrapped tightly around herself.

She entered to see a dark green yukata neatly folded next to the futon and quickly changed. It was a male yukata and a bit big on her, but she wasn't picky.

Sakura glanced up when Chizue entered the room carrying a small bowl of what smelled like porridge. "Done already?" Chizue quirked a brow as she handed the bowl, "I left you alone less than 10 minutes ago!"

Sakura shrugged indifferent to the taller woman's shock and proceeded to eat the porridge in small measured bites. Shinobi were taught to ration in case they ran out of anything of importance.

Especially after the war, when Konoha was short on supplies, most shinobi didn't have the luxury to spend a lot of time in the showers. They were lucky if they had 3 minutes worth of water. She mentally shook herself out of her musing, thoughts of the war were for another time. One without any people to witness the full impact of the war.

They made small talk as she ate, talking about the weather and what Chizue put in the porridge to make it so good. Their conversation came abruptly to a halt when Chizue looked up horrified.

"I didn't catch your name," Chizue said suddenly, looking mortified, "I'm terribly sorry! It must be so awkward for me to speak so casually to you if I don't even know your name! If you don't mind me asking," she hesitated, shyly looking down to her twiddling fingers, "What is your name?"

Sakura blinked. "Sakura." Her first name was generic, but giving out her last name in a time period different from hers was not only dangerous but stupid.

She amusedly watched Chizue's eyes widen, "You're a girl? I'm so sorry! I'll get you another change of clothes!" and left before Sakura could stop her. She chuckled as she heard Chizue scolding herself as she hurried down the hall.

Sakura could see why Chizue thought she was a male. Her hair was cropped short. She wore clothes meant for maneuverability and not style like the other kunoichi. And she was sure in this time, women were usually housewives or something of that sort. She snorted, kunoichi were practically unheard of in this time, she was sure. Sighing, she placed her empty bowl next to her. She had to find out how she got in this time. And what happened to her Konoha.

Sometime later Chizue and re-entered the room, apologizing profusely on the way, all while ignoring Sakura's insistence that she didn't mind wearing male clothing. Underneath her, she felt the shinobi leave, probably to report to Tobirama and Hashirama she mused.

Chizue had continued chattering, seemingly unaware of the shinobi's departure. While Sakura had continued to observe her surroundings, Chizue had marveled on how in the world Sakura was able to look like a guy and fool everyone in the makeshift village without even trying, Chizue bustled around the room, flitting around as she collected a few things and deposited what looked like a small collection of perfumes and scented oils.

"I thought you might like this," she hesitantly said, "I know that I'm overstepping my boundaries, but I know most girls would appreciate having this." She quickly bowed, her head nearly touching the ground, "Forgive my presumptions!"

Sakura was touched. "I-It's alright," she finally managed, "Forgive me, but I cannot accept this. You already did so much for me; you clothed me, fed me, and gave me a place to bathe. What you've already done is more than enough."

Chizue flushed, in pleasure or embarrassment, Sakura couldn't tell. Before she could reply, there was a knock at the door. Sharing a confused glance with Chizu, Sakura slowly stood up and made her way to the door.

She cautiously slid the door open. Outside, was a young boy who kept fidgeting, probably a few years younger than her, she mused. Pitying him, she took the initiative, "Is there anything you need?" The boy jumped a little before stammering out, "Hashirama-sama has requested for you to meet him in the meeting house."

Nodding in understanding, she shooed the frightened boy away after thanking him for his message, observing his form as he ran off, his steps, light.

 _A good trait in times of war,_ she thought darkly. _You never know when war comes, it was best to be prepared._

She snorted, Tobirama really rubbed off on her. She was becoming pessimistic just like him.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she turned to Chizue, grinning sheepishly, "Do you by any chance, know how to get the meeting house? Hashirama-sama wants to see me."

Chizue nodded, gracefully standing up before leading Sakura outside to the meeting house. Sakura took a moment to quietly observe her surroundings, taking note of each dark building and the oddly-scattered tent as Chizue led her past them. She was slightly surprised that Tobirama didn't order someone to blind her before taking her to be questioned, she chuckled, he always was wary of strangers.

 _Within good reason too,_ a small voice told her, _it was better safe than sorry_.

Sakura held her breath when Chizue stopped in front of a moderately sized single-story building. She could see three dark figures of what she assumed were the founders. She took a deep breath, leaning her head against the door.

At the other side of the door was Tobirama. Was she strong enough pretend that she didn't know any of them? That she didn't know him?

Chizue, mistaking Sakura's anxiety for fear, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine." She smiled reassuringly, "Hashirama-sama is kind."

Touched by Chizue's kindness, she weakly smiled, before taking a deep breath to gather her courage and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

…

She had entered the room, her head down as she arranged her shoes next to the three much larger ones in a pitiful attempt to stall for as long as possible. When she had finished, she raised her head, eyes meeting the three stares as steadily as possible, ignoring the pitter-pattering of her heart. If they were surprised that their guest was a woman instead of a man like Chizue had assumed, they didn't show it. Her eyes couldn't help but seek for Tobirama, he was at Hashirama's right, Madara to his left. She was separated from them by a long wooden table. For a brief moment she was amused, Tobirama always complained that their age and the disapproval of the village was why he refused to pursue her, but now that she was in his time, what separated them was a damn table.

She held their gazes until Hashirama broke the silence. "Sit," he gestured to the cushion in front of him. Nimbly, she sat on the cushion, back straight as a plank, hands folded on her lap.

"So," Hashirama began, he leaned forward with his chin resting on his interlaced fingers. "May I ask what your name is?"

She swallowed, "Sakura, my lord."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow, "Just Sakura? No last name?"

She directed her stare at him, wanting to touch him, to make sure he wasn't a figment of her imagination. "Yes, my lord." When seeing Madara's disbelieving look she elaborated, "I gave up my name in return in order to become a shinobi. I did not want to endanger my family so needlessly." Which was technically true. She had done that for a few weeks.

When seeing that Madara was satisfied with her answer, Hashirama stepped in, "I am Hashirama Senju." He gestured to his left, "He is Madara Uchiha," and pointed to his right, "And he is my brother, Tobirama Senju." Sakura tried her best to remain attentive to Hashirama's words but she couldn't help but be transfixed on Tobirama. He was here, alive, whole. She inwardly smiled when Tobirama dipped his head in greeting.

She clenched her fingers, _Stay focused Sakura._

She didn't show her surprise when Hashirama broke the awkward silence. "Sakura-san, why did you trespass into our territory?" If she were Naruto or any other immature person, she would have snickered at Hashirama's bluntness.

She could see that Madara had activated his sharingan and used genjutsu to cover his eyes. She needed to be as honest and as vague as possible.

She cleared her throat, "I am a traveler," she began, "After an accident-that I cannot recall-I seemed to have lost a few months of my life." Sakura ignored Hashirama's look of concern. "I woke up in a different environment from my last memory, and in an effort to find answers, I traveled back to my village only to find out that the village disappeared. That was when you had found me." She discreetly looked for their reactions. She could see Madara give the other two founders a subtle nod-telling them that she was telling the truth-and noticed Hashirama smile.

Tobirama only looked suspicious, "What do you think happened to the village?"

Sakura's expression went blank. "It's fuzzy, but I vaguely remember that I had received a warning and had traveled to my village to protect it from someone. But I can't remember more than that. My guess… is that most of the village is either dead or scattered across the globe," she said stoically.

Hashirama, sensing her discomfort, leaned across the table and grasped her hand, "I'm sorry for your loss," he said gently. She saw Madara and Tobirama nod in agreement. "What will you do now that your village is gone?"

It hit her, the Konoha she knows, the one she grew up in, was gone. Sakura felt her throat go dry, "I don't know," she said softly. "I don't know," she repeated, she felt tears prick her eyes. Embarrassed, she rubbed her eyes, willing the tears away. "I'm sorry," she laughed awkwardly, "The thought that everything I've known is gone… and that makes me emotional."

 _Not a true shinobi_ , her thoughts snickered. _Weak_.

Hashirama cleared his throat. "If you'd like," he began hesitantly, "You're welcome to stay in our village. It may not be what you're used to, but you can have a fresh start?" He rubbed the back of his head, laughing sheepishly.

"Brother!" Tobirama hissed, "Think this through before making sudden decisions." Sakura could see, from the corner of her eye, Madara didn't look happy with Hashirama either.

"Thank you for your offer," she said, channeling her diplomatic side as much as she could in the circumstances. "But I believe I should decline, seeing that I'm not entirely wanted." she flashed Hashirama a weak smile. "Thank you for the offer though, I am honored," she bowed deeply.

She turned to Tobirama and then looked at Madara, "I will leave before sunrise, if that will work with you?" Seeing Tobirama give a small nod, she smiled, "Thank you for your hospitality Madara-sama, Tobirama-sama, and Hashirama-sama." She stood up and gave one final bow before leaving the room. As she closed the door she could hear Hashirama scold Tobirama and Madara for "being so cruel".

She closed her eyes, sighing as she felt a single tear escape from her closed eyelids.

…

It was an hour before sunrise when Sakura stood by what would eventually be the gate. Chizue, once hearing what had happened, hurriedly packed the necessities that she believed Sakura would need the night before, and now was bidding her goodbye at the edge of the clearing.

Sakura was startled when Chizue launched herself into her arms and started crying, "I wish you didn't have to go," she blubbered, her tears and snot staining her shirt. Sakura awkwardly patted her back, unsure of what to do. When Chizue's tears had lessened into sniffles, and had pulled away, Sakura summoned a kunai. She bit her thumb, smearing it onto the blade before placing her hiraishin seal on it.

"This is for you," she said, passing it over, "If anything happens, _anything_ , if someone is hurt or someone has attacked the village, either smear your blood on the seal or channel a small burst of chakra through it. I will come help you, okay?" When Sakura saw Chizue nod in understanding, she smiled. "With this," she gestured to the seal, "I'll be able to come to you wherever I am. I'll always be near, so don't cry."

When Chizue's eyes began watering, Sakura began to panic, _why are civilians so emotional?_

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Hashirama come, followed closely behind by Madara and Tobirama. Chizue had stepped away from Sakura and was attempting to stifle her tears.

Sakura straightened before bowing, "Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama, Madara-sama," she greeted.

She had to admit, she was kinda freaked out when Hashirama had stepped forward and enveloped her in a hug, "I'm sorry it came out this way… but if you need anything don't hesitate to come back for help," he murmured before pulling away.

Gratitude filled her as she looked in to Hashirama's warm brown eyes. "Thank you," she said breathlessly. She hugged Chizue one last time, bowed to the founders, before leaving the fledgling village without a backwards glance.

* * *

Tell me what you think! I'd really like to know!


	3. Chapter 2

Hello again! Sorry for the late post, but I wanted to post another chapter before school starts. It's been pretty hectic and the chapter turned out differently than what I originally had planned, but I think it works.

Thank you so much for all the Favs/Follows/Reviews! For a new writer, it's really flattering and slightly intimidating to be honest, but I'm glad so many of you enjoy my story so far.

Also, because I'm rather new to writing, if anyone has a concern or a suggestion to make this story better please PM me!

Tell me what you think!

* * *

 _"Again."_

 _Sakura resisted the urge to scowl. When Tatsuo said that he'd train her sharingan, she was over the moon. Now, she regretted feeling so happy._

 _It was awful. Her chakra was close to depletion and Tatsuo didn't look like he's planning on stopping anytime soon. She resisted cursing him out loud. Knowing him, he would rat her out to her mother._

 _She shivered. Mother._

 _She flinched when a thin bamboo struck her arm._

 _"You aren't focusing on your movements. Again."_

 _Her arms began shaking from the exertion. She was so tired. She ignored her exhaustion in favor of completing the kata._

 _Tatsuo thought that since she already knew the basic katas taught at the academy, he'd teach her the more complicated ones. The catch, was that she had to start wearing weights day and night. He insisted that speed was essential to her training. It would save her life, he said when he strapped her with 4lb weights on each limb with an 8lb vest wrapped around her torso._

 _It was 5 hours since then, and they still haven't had a break yet. None of the children she knew did this kind of training. Not even the genin that visited their shop when buying weapons._

 _She huffed. Tatsuo was a slave driver._

 _The sharp crack of bamboo meeting flesh made her swear as she clutched her injured arm. Scowling, she glared up at him. She was tired, hungry, and cranky. Tatsuo, ignoring his student, put away his bamboo rod, "Enough of that for now. Activate your sharingan," he commanded._

 _Muttering curses at him, she straightened out from her stance and concentrated. In a flash, a fully mature sharingan glared at the middle-aged man as she crossed her arms with a huff._

 _When she saw that Tatsuo looked proud, her glare lessened in intensity. "Taijutsu spar, sharingan only," he announced before his eyes flashed sharingan red and he jumped back several feet. Sakura paled. Even without the weights, Tatsuo always beat her senseless._

 _She barely had time to dodge his incoming fist before she was slammed several feet away from his kick._

 _She managed to catch herself in time and flipped onto her feet before Tatsuo came down her, taking the full brunt of his high kick before kicking his stomach and launching herself several feet back._

 _She could already feel bruises forming from his attacks. Sighing she slid into her favorite stance; feet shoulder-width apart, legs slightly bent, arms held in a protective distance away from her body. Time to implement some tactics she―theoretically knew how to do―learned from the library on him._

 _She could already imagine the look on his face when she shoves him into the mud._

 _Grinning, she launched herself at him._

 _…_

 _Tatsuo sighed as he stretched his arms. The brat really did a number on him this time. He could already feel the bruises forming on his body, his wife wouldn't be happy when she found out that he took Sakura out for training. He mentally shivered, thinking about all the times she "rewarded" him for the previous spars._

 _Why were Haruno women so damn frightening?_

 _First, he gets tricked into marrying one, now he gets threatened by the brat's mother **and** his wife every time he takes the brat out to train. He never should have believed that his wife was an innocent woman when he first met her. She was a fucking dragon. _

_He grinned, thinking of his feisty wife. All the more reason to love her more, he mused._

 _Chuckling, he looked over to Sakura laying down next to him. She had laid down the second he had called the spar to an end, and had promptly passed out from chakra exhaustion. She had done better in the spar today, nearly lasting an hour before her chakra depleted. She was almost 5 and still growing. At the rate she was getting stronger, she would surpass her father before she hit puberty. His amusement sobered up, her father had died whereas her mother was paralyzed after her sharingan was unlocked, during the Hyuga Affair._

 _They had been dispatched by Hiruzen to gather information against Kumo, their intel had been leaked and they had been betrayed by their informants and Sakura's father had died during interrogation. Her grandmother had taken them both in after the incident, while cursing Konoha for not doing anything to save its citizens._

 _Although Sakura's mother had not unlocked the sharingan, she had fallen into the curse of hatred. The hatred she held for Konoha would make her die early._

 _If that happened, he swore to take her in and protect her, the clan heir. In a few short years, she would become the clan head. She already had too much pain for one so young. He glanced up at the sky, noticing that the sun was beginning to set. Sighing, he picked up the sleeping girl, careful not to jostle her, before trekking his way home._

 _He hoped Hiruzen had taken the proper precautions after he sent his message all those months ago. He was wary of Danzo finding out and if Konoha had found out that Sakura had the sharingan, she would be thrown into a political war, where she would become a pawn to Konoha's political struggle._

 _…_

 _When Hiruzen had revealed that there was a child that possessed the sharingan, Danzo knew he had to have it. The child was just a means to an end. With her eyes, he would become the Hokage. He just had to plan accordingly, he already had his soldiers tailing the child's caretaker. He needed to know their schedule in order to kidnap her himself. They already had enough information to take her and make it seem as though the child died in a fire, Hiruzen would know nothing else._

 _Chuckling darkly, he summoned a Root member into the room._

 _He threw a photo of the girl at the Root's feet. "Gather team 5. We take her tonight._

 _"Understood."_

 _…_

 _Sakura had woken up when Tatsuo was tucking her in bed. After delivering quick goodbyes, her teacher had left before her grandmother began the interrogation process and ripped him a new one._

 _Smiling, Sakura had sent him off with a happy wave and began telling her grandmother everything she had learned from Tatsuo. She knew that her mother was bitter with her father's death, and disapproved that Sakura herself was training to follow in his footsteps but she knew that her mother loved her all the same._

 _Happy with her day, Sakura set up the traps Tatsuo insisted that she had to do before falling asleep with her kunai under her pillow._

 _._

 _Sakura woke up with a jolt when she felt someone cross her wards. It was customary for each clan head to set wards to protect their clan. The one that was breached… was the one that was located several miles away. It wouldn't be Tatsuo, he was the one who taught her how to set them up-he would know where they were and how not to set them off._

 _Enemy shinobi._

 _If they were incompetent, she had less than an hour. If they were good… she only had 15 minutes._

 _Grabbing the kunai from under her, she activated her sharingan and darted to her grandmother, making sure to grab the weapons pouch Tatsuo left her._

 _Footsteps silent, she made her way to gran's bedroom._

 _Shaking her gran as gently as possible, she attempted to wake her. Once she noticed her grandmother stir, she whispered, "Gran. Someone is coming-I don't know who-but we have to leave! I'll go get kaa-san!"_

 _Sakura burst through into her mother's room to find her already awake, "Kaa-san! Shinobi! We need to leave!" She made her way to her mother, picking her up as gently as possible, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing onto her wrist. "Sakura," her mother began, eyes warm, "Take your grandmother and leave this place. I'll distract them for as long as I can, but it'll only be for a few minutes. Go!"_

 _Sakura began to panic, "No! I'm not leaving you!" Tears began to well up in her eyes, "I already lost tou-san, I can't lose you too!"_

 _Sakura saw her mother give a weak smile, "My pretty," she cooed, wiping the tears away from her eyes, "I'm paralyzed from the waist down, I'll only slow you down. And besides, your father is up there," she pointed at the sky, and then placed her hand on Sakura's rapidly beating heart, "and here. We'll always be there for you. Always," she said before giving her a small bag and kissing her forehead one last time, "I love you my sweet darling." She smiled as she gently pushed Sakura away from her, urging her out the door._

 _Sakura gave one last mournful look before running back to her grandmother to flee. She would wait nearby to help her mother she swore, once she got gran and the rest of the clan somewhere safe, kaa-san was next._

 _She barely had enough time to safely deliver her gran to one of their relatives at the other side of the Haruno compound. She had spread the word to evacuate the entire compound, something she knew her father would have done. Even though she loved her mother, the clan was first. That was the duty and burden of every clan head._

…

Sakura woke up with a jolt. Panting, she wiped the sweat off of her face.

Another nightmare.

Ever since she arrived in this timeline, she had been having nightmares. Some of them had been memories. Memories of the war, memories of _his_ death. Others had been nightmares of Konoha's demise.

At this point she didn't know what was true or a figment of her imagination. Sighing, she stood up and made her way out of the cave she had been staying in. It was three months since she had left the village in its founding. Three months since she had last seen him. Currently, she was gathering herbs and poisonous plants that could only be found in the Mountains' Graveyard. She had been cultivating them, planning on making remedies and poisons for future use. For Konoha in their time of need.

Already, she had made two camps in the land of sand and rivers to grow herbs and other plants. This was her third camp, and in a few days, she would leave to the land near to travel where the hidden mist village would be to gather and cultivate herbs from that area. Her clones were tending to the other camps, she would leave one here too.

She leaves in three days.

…

It was a bit past three months since Sakura left the village. Already the village was growing. The Uzumaki clan had joined a month ago, and the Shimura clan had shown interest, they were currently exploring the possibility on joining the village.

Hashirama stood at the top of the mountain overlooking the village. The sun was setting, and the cool wind was blowing gently, caressing his face. He inhaled, filling his lungs with air as he continued to observe the fledgling village. The Uzumaki was a nice addition to the village, they got along well with the Uchiha and the Senju.

Out of the many things he had done these past few months, his only regret was that he let Sakura go. When she had walked into the room that night, he swore he had felt a connection with her. When she had shed tears, it was as if the very center of his being, yearned to comfort her. It was insane. He had never met her until the day she had shown up on the very spot he was standing in, but it had felt as if he had known her in another life. That was ridiculous. Shaking his head and laughing lightly to himself, he made his way down the mountain before Tobirama hunted him down for dinner.

.

It was nightfall when Chizue was washing the dishes at a nearby stream. The village was growing so much and she wished that Sakura was there to witness everything that was happening.

To see how much the village was growing.

She wished that Sakura had insisted that she should stay in the village. In the short amount of time that she had known her, she felt that she had some sort of connection with her. It was as if… she had known Sakura. She had felt like home, but Chizue had noticed that Sakura seemed lost. She missed her terribly. Sighing, she went back to scrubbing the plates.

She was too hopeful. Sakura wasn't coming back.

…

Sakura sighed as she leaned back on her arms. She had just left her camp a few hours ago and was aimlessly walking to her destination. She knew where to go, but she wanted to take her time getting there. It wasn't as if someone was waiting for her anyway. Sakura laid on her back and looked up at the sky. Shikamaru would have loved the view, she thought sullenly. She briefly closed her eyes, savoring the cool breeze and the warm sunlight on her face. It was… nice.

Sakura didn't even flinch when she heard a scream a few hundred meters or so away. She was in a different timeline, she wasn't supposed to change events that will happen. Hell, she even wasn't supposed to be here!

 _Ignore them_ , she thought. _Not my business_. Furrowing her brow, she admired the scenic view, fully intending to pretend she couldn't hear what was happening.

"Well, what do we have 'ere?" she heard a man gruffly say. "Pretty lil' thing you 're." she heard a shuffle of clothes and feet, eventually she heard a squeak. She cracked open an eye, silently observing the scene.

Two bandits were harassing a caravan. Multiple people of all ages were inside, looking terrified. The one who looked like he was in charge of the group, was knocked unconscious at the two bandits' feet. One of them, was holding a child up by her shirt, leering lecherously at her.

She shut her eye, _don't interfere,_ she repeated in her mind. _Not my problem_.

She heard the child wail, as she heard the shuffling of clothes, probably the child trying to kick her captors. She heard the bandits laugh cruelly. Her fingers clenched.

"Whattaya say we 'ave some 'un with this one, eh?" one bandit said. The girl cried harder. Sakura sighed, damn morals. She stood up and leisurely made her way to the caravan.

"Hey fellas!" she called, cupping her hands at her mouth. "Why don't you put the girl down and we can talk civilly, yeah?"

She watched the bandits look at each other briefly. She could sense that there were more bandits hiding in the forest. Her hand began to sneak downward, towards her weapons pouch. "Only if you promise to 'ake the girl's place," one of the bandits said, grinning lecherously, "You're a lot prettier than this one 'ere," he waved the girl in his hand. Sakura saw the girl flinch, tears streaming down her face. She sighed, fingering her kunai, she was beginning to regret this already.

"Why don't you let the girl go, then we can talk?" Sakura suggested. In the corner of her eye, she saw the hidden bandits move to surround her. She snorted, _pigs_. She was done playing nice-innocent-civilian with them. She threw her kunai at the man holding the girl. The man yelped, clutching his hand. Satisfied, she saw the girl run to an elderly woman's arms. _Totally worth it._

"Bitch!" the bandit screamed.

In a flash the other bandits appeared from the trees, before launching themselves at her.

 _Fine_ , she thought as she grinned, _more for me to beat the crap out of_. She moved out of the way of a katana, neatly avoiding the blade, before launching a series of kicks and punches to the men surrounding her. Before long, all the bandits were scattered across the clearing, unconscious. Sakura clapped her hand, to get rid of the imaginary dirt before making her way to the caravan, not before picking up her kunai lodged into the bandit's hand.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked, observing the people. Some shrank back in fear, but the girl she had saved, looked up to her in awe. Raising an eyebrow, she crouched down to heal the unconscious man on the floor. When she finished, she made her way to the girl, healing the bruises that were forming on the girl's pale skin.

Sakura was startled when the girl beamed at her, "Thank you for saving me!" Eyes warm, she ruffled the girl's hair, "No problem kiddo." She observed the other inhabitants before looking down at the girl again, "Sorry kid, but I have to leave." Sakura turned to the nearest person, "You can make it to your destination on your own?"

When the male shakily shook his head, she gave a curt nod before ruffling the little girl's head one last time and leaving the clearing.

She already wasted enough time.

…

Sakura had made camp when night fell, an hour or so after she had saved the caravan. She had caught some fish at a nearby stream and gutted it. Now the fish were impaled by sticks roasting by the fire. Absentmindedly, she played with her kunai. She had seen the girl before… in her time. But where?

Sighing, she threw in more logs, watching the flames flare. When she heard footsteps approaching from the north, she held out her kunai threateningly.

"Who's there?" she called. "Come out."

Sakura watched with narrow eyes as she saw a small figure emerge from the darkness.

It was the girl she had saved earlier today.

 _Was the caravan attacked again?_

Sakura lowered her kunai, "Why are you here?" Even though she was wary, she was genuinely curious. Why did the girl follow her here?

Sakura watched as the girl fidgeted before blurting out, "Please take me in!" the girl bowed down deeply.

Baffled, Sakura only stared.

When Sakura did not reply, the girl hurriedly continued. "I-I saw what you did with those bandits. You defeated them easily, and then you healed the guide and me. I am an orphan. N-no one will miss me, and I want to learn how to heal. How to protect myself. I p-promise not to get in the way. Please teach me!" The girl's hair was nearly touching the ground.

What the hell? The girl looked about 7 or 8 years old. Way too young. And she wasn't interested in taking in anyone to train. She was only 18 for crying out loud.

"What's your name kid?"

Sakura silently watched the girl straighten up and look into her eyes.

 _She has good eyes_ , she thought.

"Biwako."

* * *

Please review and tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 3

Haha so sorry for the super long wait, but the next chapter is here! I was so busy with school and haha... yeah. I edited some parts in previous chapters so it took a bit longer to get this one up and running. Thank you for all the support! Please review and tell me what you think! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _It was near sundown when Tatuso and his young charge made their way to the clan's ancestral burial grounds. They were paying their respects to Sakura's mother before they had to relocate the clan. Somewhere far away and hidden._

 _Hiruzen, mortified with the recent events, promised to slow down the mission requests to lighten Sakura's role as official clan head until the clan was more stable. Tatsuo would bet his sharingan that Danzo pulled a veil over Hiruzen's eyes, crippling his ability to see the internal chaos caused by Danzo's fraction, Root._

 _Sighing, he turned his gaze on to his young charge. Sakura was gazing unblinkingly at the newly placed tombstone, erected next to her deceased father. He pretended not to notice as her eyes watered and said nothing when she furiously wiped her tears away. His heart reached for her, understanding her pain but unable to take it away from her. She had to handle it on her own, less she would never be able to handle leading the clan. Death was a part of the job, like hokages, the clan heads of the Haruno clan had to send many Harunos to their death. Such was the life of a shinobi._

…

 _The shinobi remained emotionless when a fist smashed on the pine desk. He had failed in retrieving the girl his leader had assigned. He knew he would be lucky if he didn't pay with his life. Danzo seemed especially angry as of late, and many of the fraction had suffered as a result. Agent-1012976 was still in the infirmary and 0907365 was buried this morning._

 _He watched silently as Danzo took a deep breath. "Get out," Danzo quietly ordered._

 _He didn't waste another second, quietly fleeing the premises._

 _The Root members standing guard, ignored their leader as he tore his room apart in a whirlwind of fury._

 _When he had calmed down some, an idea rippled through the back of his mind. He could request that Sakura is needed within the village. If he could implant the idea into Hiruzen's head that Sakura would be an asset inside the village, he could eventually make his move and recruit her into his organization… It would take some time, but it would be well worth the wait._

 _Patience is virtue afterall._

…

 _It was close to midnight when Tatsuo wandered out of of the safety of the clan's makeshift camp. They were heading closer to Konoha for refuge. Unless ordered otherwise, the clan would make camp near the hidden village of the leaves until they were stable enough to take on missions. Tatsuo needed time to think, he had an entire clan to worry about._

 _Ever since Sakura's mother had passed away a week ago, Tatsuo had a gut feeling that Danzo was up to no good. Even though… Even though he had left his clan all those years ago, he did agree with their number one rule: secrets of the clan should stay within the clan. Anyone who attempted to steal such secrets would not be protected by the laws of Konoha and will be put to trial and punished by the clan._

 _Even though Sakura was safe this time… he couldn't ensure her safety when she joined the shinobi forces. In the Haruno clan, it was mandatory that the clan head teach their heir everything they needed to know about being a shinobi as they serve the clan. Due to the circumstances and her age, she needed to join the shinobi forces to serve her time, that was Haruno law._

 _Brow furrowing, Tatsuo hurriedly grabbed a scroll and scribbled a short note to Hiruzen. Although Hiruzen was a friend for many years, he was a shinobi first and foremost, Tatsuo didn't doubt that Hiruzen, when given the opportunity wouldn't hesitate to exploit the advantage on having Sakura join the shinobi forces early. And with Hiruzen blinded by his loyalty to his teammate Danzo, he wouldn't be able to ensure Sakura's safety, no matter what his reasurrances were. Danzo… Tatsuo scowled deeply, he wouldn't trust Danzo as far as he threw him._

 _Tatsuo had to acknowledge that Danzo did love Konoha, but his methods to show his love for the village was… deranged. Stuck in the past and forever paranoid of the other great nations, Danzo's only concern is to increase the military strength of Konoha. His ideals of a militaristic nation would always put the village in danger. Civilians and merchants would avoid the village and the shinobi would always look over their shoulders. And Danzo's quest for power via sharingan… Tatsuo mentally shuddered, would bring him to his downfall._

 _Sharingan activating, Tatsuo summoned one of the Uchiha cats, an old black tom with startling red eyes._

" _Tatsuo-kun," the tom greeted, "It's been a while, old friend."_

 _Despite the circumstances, Tatsuo weakly smiled to his loyal summon, "Indeed it has Menma," lifting the scroll, Tatsuo placed it in front of the large tom, "Please take this to Hiruzen. Deliver this when he his alone. He must be the only one who sees this."_

 _Seeing the cat nod and gently pick up the scroll, Tatsuo dismissed his summon with a wave of his hand. When seeing his summon disappear with a flick of his tail, Tatsuo began his nightly vigil of guarding the sleeping members of his adoptive clan._

 _His eyes, the sharingan, would make sure that nothing would harm them._

…

 _Hiruzen blankly stared at the scroll in his hands. He could already feel a headache beginning to form. His most trusted advisor, Danzo insisted that the new Haruno clan head would be an essential asset to the village. He could see Danzo's point, with Sakura's eyes they could do so much without the Uchiha there to monitor the sharingan. They would have never expected that the sharingan would be found outside of their clan._

 _But Tatsuo… his close friend, had advised against it. The third shinobi war was over, there was no need to have children soil their hands so early. Tatsuo had threatened him as well as the village. Place Sakura in Danzo's program, Root, and Tatsuo would kill Danzo and his Root members before exposing the village secrets to the other hidden villages._

 _His hands were tied. Either action would bring great loss to the village. He groaned, hands rubbing the growing migraine in his head in an effort to soothe it. They had to compromise._

 _The village's safety depended on it_

…

 _Tatsuo was glaring at the reply Hiruzen sent him. Sakura wouldn't be placed in Root. Instead she would be placed in ANBU under the watchful gaze of Kakashi Hatake. Her identity would remain hidden._

 _Laughter threatened to bubble out of his throat._

 _Hiruzen really outdid himself. He managed to go in between the two demands and make a safe compromise. He really was the Professor. Tatsuo sighed, picking up a brush and scrawling a quick reply. Hiruzen wins. As long as Danzo keeps his dirty paws off Sakura, he'll keep his word._

 _Tatsuo scowled, now to tell Sakura._

 _Damn it._

…

 _Sakura didn't know what to think. She was appointed clan head by the elders of the clan with Tatsuo as her advisor. According to ancient shinobi law, to be recognized as an official clan head, she had to join the shinobi forces and serve for 10 years. She didn't know that Tatsuo had already made the arrangements with the hokage to integrate her into the shinobi forces. But to join ANBU at her age? Could she handle it?_

 _She was scared._

 _Sakura stared at the door leading into the hokage's office before looking imploringly at Tatsuo. When he just ruffled her hair, opened the door, and shoved her in, Sakura did her best not to stumble._

 _He was_ _ **so**_ _going to pay back for that later._

 _Sakura, mustering as much grace as she could for a 4 year old, straightened herself out and bowed low to the man sitting behind the large oak desk in front of her._

 _Sakura froze when she felt a large surge of chakra overwhelm hers. She snapped her head up in time to avoid the chirping chakra before flipping backwards and slashing the assailant with a kunai._

 _She watched warily when her assailant nimbly dodged the attack and land neatly next to the hokage._

 _What the fuck._

" _She has good reflexes Hokage-sama. But I still don't want a child on my team," the man said._

 _Sakura silently observed the two men in front of her. No, the one who attacked her is young. He looked… what, 18? She mentally sighed, she just wanted to go home and nap. It wasn't even noon yet and she was already tired. She perked up when she heard her name being mentioned._

 _The two men were looking at her expectantly. What did they want?_

 _The younger male, seeing her confused look, sighed and begrudgingly stuck out his hand._

" _Hatake Kakashi," the male, no_ _ **boy**_ _said, "Apparently until I can prove you're a liability to my team, I'm stuck with you. So, Yo! I'm your team leader who already hates you."_

 _Sakura felt a vein pop. She wanted to punch that lazy look off his goddamn face._

" _Pleasure."_

…

Sakura woke up with a jolt. Her dreams had been getting worse lately, from memories of the war to memories of her childhood… she shook her head to clear the remaints of her dream. Her internal clock told her it was almost dawn.

Sighing, she wearily stood up and wandered down to the nearby stream. Biwako would want breakfast. Once she had reached the stream, Sakura tied chakra strings to her kunai and waited, wanting to find the best fish for Biwako.

It's been two weeks since she took the estranged child in and to be completely honest, she didn't know what she was doing. When she was Biwako's age, she had already been in ANBU for a little over 3 years. Their circumstances were different and she didn't know what needed to be done. Especially the shinobi training she was planning on teaching her.

So far Sakura managed to teach basic medicinal herbs that every aspiring medic should know. She had taught Biwako the fundamentals of chakra and taught her some basic exercises like sticking leaves to her forehead but as far as she knew… Biwako had been unable to do anything with her chakra. Sakura had activated the sharingan when Biwako was attempting a chakra exercise but found no abnormalities with her chakra system. Maybe she was like Naruto?

She vaguely remembered that Naruto had a lot of trouble learning how to use his chakra when they were at the academy. He truly started blossoming when they had been placed in team 7 under the tutelage of Kakashi-senpai. His rivalry with Sasuke had made him improve so much in just a few months. Maybe Biwako needed something similar to what Naruto had? A rival?

Sakura sighed again, pinching her nose as she finished gutting the fish. Where would she find a Sasuke for Biwako? If only people sold rivals in shops, Sakura laughed at the thought. Well, technically Sasuke and Naruto did meet at the marketplace, right next to the tomato stand. They had immediately hated each other, but it kind of made sense… them disliking each other. They were brothers in a past life, them being reincarnations of Indra and Asura Otsutsuki and all.

She looked up at the morning sky. It had been 3 months and 2 weeks since she had been sent to this timeline. It was even longer since she had seen her boys… Sai, Yamato, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke. She missed them. A lot.

And it hurt.

…

"Sakura-san!"

Sakura looked up from the tome she was reading. It was midday when Sakura decided to teach Biwako the basics of ninja wire. She had shown the basics and simple traps before leaving Biwako alone to experiment on her own. The day before, Sakura discovered that Biwako was creative and learned more if she was given time to test things on her own. She had started Biwako on her shinobi training the week before, only making her go through endurance training until she became stronger.

She had taken in Biwako for a month and a half now, they had finished making camp at the hidden mist village before moving to Turtle Island and they finally made camp at the hidden rain village. Each camp had been warded with seals to prevent others from accessing the camps. Each clone had been meticulous in the herbs' growth, and so far, each camp was flourishing.

The camp they made would be their last camp until Sakura could make one in Konoha-or what would be Konoha- but until then, Sakura needed to start building connections, meaning she had to start interacting with villagers from across the great nations.

Looking up from her tome, Sakura burst out laughing. Biwako had somehow managed to entangle herself with the wires and was dangling off of a nearby branch. She could see Biwako struggling to free herself, only managing to entangle herself further.

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Biwako growled. Still chuckling to herself, Sakura stood and slowly made her way over to her flailing ward. Brandishing a kunai, she gently cut specific parts of the wire before standing back and watching as Biwako fell ungracefully to the ground. Glad to be free, Biwako leapt to her feet before running off, ninja wire in tow.

Clucking in disapproval, Sakura watched her ward as she attempted to make a trap farther away from camp. She really was like Naruto. Loud, clumsy, and passionate, it was like Naruto was always here with her. Sakura snorted, trust the fates to make her find another person like Naruto. She didn't need more Narutos in her life, one was enough.

Was that why Hiruzen loved Naruto so much? Because he reminded him of his late wife?

…

The Shimura clan had successfully integrated itself into their village less than a week ago. The process of integrating a clan into the war-weary members of the Senju and Uchiha clan, while maintaining balance with the Uzumaki was more tedious than Hashirama would have liked.

The moon was high up in the sky when Hashirama managed to drag his beloved brother to drink sake with him out on the porch. As they drank silently, enjoying the silence that came with the night was well as each others company, Hashirama felt his mind begin to wander.

He thought of what had happened in the 26 years he'd been alive. He thought about his late younger siblings, what they would be like now, as older more mature men. He thought about his father, and what he would have thought of the treaty between the Uchiha and the other clans. He thought about his mother, who had died when he and Tobirama were young, would she be proud on how they had turned out? He thought about Sakura, the one who he felt he knew, the one who they had cruelly cast out because Madara and Tobirama had trouble trusting new people. Especially people who seemed to know more than they were comfortable with.

Was Tobirama happy with the way things had turned out? Did he not regret the decisions he made in order to come to this point? Hashirama decided to ask, while his brother's guard was slightly down, unsuspecting of his eager inquiries.

"Tobi?"

Hashirama patiently waited for his brother to reply, knowing that Tobirama could get a little prickly when provoked. He heard a long sigh before Tobirama grunted for him to continue.

"Are you happy?"

Tobirama glanced at the sky, understanding Hashirama's unspoken inquiries, silently gazing at the twinkling stars. Were they correct to make the decisions they had made to come this far? If they had taken a different alternative, would they still have had come to the same point? Was he making the right choices? Was he truly happy with his life?

His mind flashed an image of the girl. Sakura. Her kneeling primly on the tatami mat, with unshed tears in her eyes. Eyes that had seemed so haunted. Eyes that seemed to know something, everything. Eyes that unnerved him. He had been unable to get her out of his head. When she had begun to tear up, something within was fighting to get up and comfort her. That was insane, he didn't know her.

Or did he?

Tobirama turned to look at his brother. His brother who was so concerned for his well-being. His brother who loved him, more than anything in the world, the one who he looked up to. He felt his throat dry up.

"I don't know."

He looked at Hashirama nod in understanding, before the two brothers continued drinking in silence. The moon being their only witness.

…

Sakura was walking slowly to a nearby village. She needed to exchange some remedies and ointments for some cloth and other necessities. Maybe make some money too, not that they needed it, but it was still nice to have on hand. Biwako had begged her to come and join her, saying that having Sakura for company all the time was tiring.

Sakura scowled, the only reason why they were going was because Biwako had already outgrown her old clothes and Sakura needed to make new ones for her, less she ripped the clothes she was wearing now and the cloth couldn't be reused for something else. Maybe training weights?

She wasn't sure if the village had anything she could use though. The village looked rather run-down every time she had run around the village and back to camp for a warm up. But maybe she could find something if she tried really hard?

Sakura frowned. If they couldn't find anything she would have to make the cloth herself, but that took too much time and the material would be too nice for Biwako to use for training. And if the village was actually run-down there would be a lot of sick people who would need healing, but Sakura had already promised herself that Biwako's fate was the only one she would change in this timeline.

Her presence alone would already be making changes. What if her future actions result in one of her friends never being born? She would never forgive herself. Sakura sighed, she wanted to go home already, but she got caught up with wanting to help Konoha in the sidelines and raising Biwako. She didn't regret her decisions but at the same time… she missed her Konoha.

She watched wearily as Biwako jumped from tree to tree, swinging on wires as if it were completely normal to do so.

"Don't go past the gates without me!" she called.

Sakura really needed to teach Biwako manners and diplomacy if she wanted to release Biwako into Konoha to marry Hiruzen. At the rate Biwako was going, she'd be a hellion if she didn't act fast. Etiquette training after dinner, she decided.

When the village came into view, Sakura saw Biwako standing near the village entrance waiting for her. Sakura smiled, Biwako was actually listening for once. When she reached her apprentice, she ruffled her messy, windswept hair, before trudging past the gates to the market.

The village reminded her of the village in the land of the waves. It was run down, with people begging for food or money at every corner. She felt Biwako walk closer to her, tucking herself behind Sakura. When she felt small hands fist her shirt, Sakra turned her head to gauge Biwako's reaction. Biwako's eyes were wide with surprise, she seemed shocked that people could live in these conditions. Sakura watched steadily as Biwako turned her head in every direction, as if she wanted to see every sick person lying on the street. It was a bad idea to bring her.

 _Don't interfere_ , the little voice told her. _Think of the consequences your actions might cause._

As they passed by a dying man on the street, Sakura clenched her fingers, drawing blood. The disease was water-based. Something was in the water that's making these people sick. Sakura bit her lip to control herself. She couldn't interfere.

When they reached the marketplace, Sakura mentally sighed with relief. The condition wasn't as bad as she feared but there were still a lot of people who looked sick as the others on the way here. The some of the produce was rotting, and it smelled like feces. Human or animal, she didn't know. Sakura decided immediately.

Just exchange ointments for cloth then.

Stalking confidently to the only cloth booth with Biwako close behind, Sakura kept an eye and ear out for her surroundings. She wasn't blind, she knew she wasn't ugly, and with boisterous males a few meters away, eyeing her like she was some piece of meat, she needed to find multiple escape routes for Biwako as well as herself. Just in case.

An old, leathery woman at the booth raised her bleary eyes at her.

"Whaddya need?" the woman asked gruffly, squinting at her as if she didn't know why she was here. Sakura heard a child quietly coughing from the building behind the old woman. Based on his coughing, he seemed to have an irritated throat too.

Sakura felt a wave of sadness, "I'm looking for cloth to make clothes. Do you have anything soft and durable?"

The woman rummaged through, muttering to herself about aching joints, before fishing out a worn out cloth. Sakura eyed it speculatively. It was a good material, although old. It would do.

As Sakura made the exchange of some remedies and an ointment for the woman's joints, Sakura heard the unruly men make their way over. Sakura saw the old woman's eyes widened before she scurried to the other side of the booth as quickly as she could to avoid conflict. Sighing she straightened out before looking at the 3 men in the eyes.

"May I help you?" she asked politely.

The males smiled lecherously, showing their yellowing teeth. "You can aft'r we deal with th's hag 'ere," the one in the middle said. Pushing past her, she felt one of the males smack her ass.

Her eyes narrowed. They did not just do that.

Sakura gently shoved her purchases into Biwako's hand before grabbing the moron who slapped her ass by the collar. Using her momentum, she jerked him back as she threw him on the ground at her feet. Immediately the male went unconscious.

In the corner of her eye she saw people flinch and made a wide berth from where she was standing. The other two males quickly turned to see their companion passed out on the floor before charging at her, the old woman forgotten. As they charged, Sakura grabbed both of their heads and smacked them together, knocking them unconscious.

Huffing in annoyance, Sakura clapped her hands to get rid of the imaginary dirt before stepping on the pile of dumbasses over to the woman at the booth.

"Here," Sakura said, handing her a few bottles of different remedies and ointments, "Use these on the child," gesturing to the building behind the old woman, "these should help with the cough and the mucus in his throat." Sakura turned before the old woman could respond, stepping on the dumb males once more and walking away, pulling a quiet Biwako with her.

 _Stupid males_ , Sakura thought sourly, as she and Biwako left the village.

…

Once they were far away enough, Biwako spoke up.

"Why didn't you bother helping the other sick people in the village?"

Sakura turned to look at her quiet ward. Biwako's eyes were full of unshed tears. Feeling her heart constrict, Sakura kneeled down and gently wiped the tears away.

"Sometimes," Sakura began, "there are somethings that you can't do." And she couldn't, she couldn't risk the future.

"But you could of helped," Biwako insisted, "Why didn't you?"

Sakura smiled wearily, "My hands are tied, Biwako."

After that, Biwako didn't speak to her for the rest of the night.

…

It was close to midnight when Sakura slid on Kakashi's old mask on her face. He had given that to her when he had retired from ANBU, but he still used it from time to time when he was needed for an ANBU mission. Even though he had more masks, the jerk always used the one she had just to annoy her.

Chuckling to herself, she took off to the village she had visited hours before.

She couldn't help the village as Haruno Sakura, but she could help the village as an unknown shinobi who just happened to have a good heart.

* * *

Please review! I'd really appreciate it! :D


	5. Chapter 4

Ahaha... Awkwardly laughs as new chapter loads... I'm terribly sorry that this chapter took so long! I have a skeleton plan on what needs to happen and what will happen, but I don't have anything planned that acts as a filler as I get from point A to B. Actually I do, but it never seems to fit so I just improvise... And the fact that this is my first fanfic, I'm super busy with school, and the fact that I'm extremely picky about my work... I feel writing a multi chapter fanfic was a tad bit ambitious... Anywho! If anyone has any suggestions on what you want see happen please review or message me! It would be greatly appreciated if I had suggestions so I'm not coming up with this myself.

ALSO! There will be somethings that may confuse you in this chapter... all I can say is trust me and the truth will be revealed in the coming chapters! So please be patient with this story:) I'm also sorry to say that this will be an eventual Tobirama and Sakura fanfic! I need to get this story rolling and get some stuff established before any romance happens... so it shouldn't be happening anytime soon! Sorry about that!

As much as I enjoy writing, I love reading the reviews and seeing how much everyone is enjoying this! Your comments are so encouraging and rewarding! Thank you for those who have favorited/followed!

And a big hug for those who reviewed: KyloRen'sgirl123, Sakura Hatsu, Allison997, Bsmiles123, Tobiramamara, Twisted Musalih, carribianbeauty17, gene44, SweetLuh, angel897, shadow miko, Marshmallow-fluff-23, Tsubahime, Cruisegirl86, missbehavin, Shion Lee, Infernalbooks, Erin Reed, Nymphetamine0verdose, Iowe101, Kayna96, Kendrane

Thank you so much!

* * *

 _Hiruzen was looking over mission reports when Danzo had waltzed in, furious. Wanting to avoid fighting his close friend, Hiruzen had pointedly ignored him in hopes that Danzo's anger would subside as he finished writing his notes on a scroll. Looking up and seeing Danzo's face flushed in anger, Hiruzen calmly began to plan how he could worm his way out of his friend's wrath._

" _What do you want Danzo?"_

 _Hiruzen watched Danzo as his face turned an alarming shade of purple before taking a deep breath. "You had promised me the girl, Haruno Sakura."_

 _Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, "You had requested Haruno Sakura be transferred into your division Root, and I had not promised you anything. She is still but a child. No child should be put in situations like this."_

" _And yet you allow a toddler, a child not even old enough to attend the academy to be placed in Anbu, where you had denied placing Uchiha Itachi in until he becomes chunin."_

 _Hiruzen slowly inhaled, wishing his late wife Biwako was here to whip their friends, the elders of Konoha into line. She always had a way to make them listen, whether they liked it or not. "She will be in Anbu only in name. The only reason why she's there, is because you convinced the rest of council to demand Sakura's placement in Anbu! My decision is final. Haruno Sakura will be an Anbu in training until she is old enough to partake in missions."_

 _Hiruzen watched with bated breath as Danzo puffed his chest in anger, "Very well," he grit out before exiting the office with a swish of his robes._

 _Sighing, Hiruzen rubbed his face as he wondered if he had made the best decision after all._

…

 _Sakura stared distastefully at the porcelain mask laying innocently on her bedside. Tatsuo had taken her to Anbu headquarters to get fitted for her armor and get her mask. Usually, Anbu had armor of all sizes, but only for adults. Since she was so young, "little" according to Tatsuo, she had to get her armor customized._

 _She didn't even know why the village elders demanded that she start her shinobi career so early. There wasn't even a war going on. And they didn't even bother to make her a genin at four years old. No, the crazy douchebags assumed that if they tossed her into raging waters, she would instinctively know how to walk on water. Well, she already knew how to do that, but that was only because Tatsuo wanted her to be prepared for everything. At her age, it was hard since her chakra system was still developing._

 _Sakura suddenly scowled. The baka-kashi told her to meet their team at 05:00 at a bridge somewhere southeast of Konoha's training grounds. She didn't even know where the training grounds were located, and that damn scarecrow knew it._

 _Harunos were constantly moving, gathering intel from their informants and learning fighting styles from all over the Great Nations. She could count the number of times she had visited Konoha with one hand, and still have two fingers left over._

 _The first time she had visited the leaf village, she was being introduced to the third hokage and the clans of Konoha as the Haruno heir and successor to the merchant clan. The second time was because she snuck out and visited the village while her parents were stuck a village over discussing trade negotiations with another merchant clan. The third time… was when she had attended the memorial service of her father. His body was buried at the Haruno ancestral grounds but the service was for all the shinobi involved in the Hyuga Affair._

 _Sakura shook her head, no time for that. She had to decide what to do with the bastard she had to call her team leader. He just… rubbed her the wrong way, always knowing the little things that got her mad. He was like a drunk Tatsuo who never knew when to stop until baa-chan threw kunai at him. She couldn't throw kunai at baka-kashi to kill him like how baa-chan liked to do to Tatsuo, but she could make him regret ever having the misfortune of meeting her._

 _Yeah, she would do that. After she figured out where in the world that damn bridge is._

 _Anbu for less than a day and she already hated it._

…

 _Sakura was not amused._

 _She had woken up 2 hours before their designated time and had scoured the whole village to find the meeting spot only to find no one there. It was already 7AM and Sakura was ready to sic Tatsuo on the bastard captain. The damn man-child was probably watching somewhere and laughing his ass off._

 _Sakura huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms in front of her small chest. What was up with her team? Shinobi were supposed to be punctual damn it. Breathing deeply through her nose, she forced herself to relax, deciding to meditate while she silently stewed in her anger._

 _It was an hour later when she felt two foreign chakra signatures headed in her direction. Her new team. Cracking open an eye, Sakura watched as two males, one smaller than the other, landed silently a few feet away. Grumbling slightly in annoyance, Sakura stood up and was prepared to greet them when she was engulfed in a hug by the smaller male. His warmth unwelcoming to her small body._

" _Soo cute!" he babbled, wrapping his longer arms around the small girl before swinging her around like a rag doll._

 _Eyes blown wide, Sakura yelped squirming her way out of his arms, only to stop when his arms began to tighten and make it hard to breathe. "You look like a little wood nymph! You're so adorable I want to keep you in my weapons pouch!"_

 _Sakura sputtered, vainly attempting to pry off the arms encasing her, before looking at the other male pleadingly only for him to turn around and stare off into the distance._

 _What happened to swearing an oath to help protect the village and its inhabitants? This inhabitant needs help getting away from this weirdo right here!_

 _The smaller male gasped before setting Sakura down and held her shoulders firmly, "Are you the new member taichou was telling us about!"_

 _Annoyed with her captor, Sakura huffed, "So what?" only to cringe in surprise when the small male grabbed her cheeks and began pulling._

" _You're so cute!" he squealed, before turning to his companion, "Can we keep her?"_

" _Shisui," the other man said exasperatedly, "You don't go treating people like pets, especially new teammates."_

" _But Tenzo!" Shisui whined, "she's so tiny! She looks like she's little Sasuke's age…"_

" _Age, size, and gender don't matter in ANBU," chided the older male._

" _Mah, she's small enough to be adopted by Pakkun."_

 _The group turned to look at their team leader, who was leaning on a training post a few feet away. Sakura looked curiously at the other two males to see if they were surprised by their captain's presence. Shisui and the other male looked calm, as if they were waiting for Kakashi to come out of his hiding place._

 _Sakura felt a creeping sense of dread. When had he gotten so close without her sensing him?_

" _You're late!" Shisui accused, "And why didn't you tell us that our new teammate is so cute?"_

" _Mah Shisui-kun," Kakashi said drolly, "There was a fish drowning at the edge of the river and I had to go save it. All life is important you know."_

" _Liar! Fish can't drown!" Shisui shrieked, his pitch hurting Sakura's ears, "Then what about our teammate?"_

 _Kakashi smiled, eyes crinkling with false happiness, "I wanted it to be a surprise." He waved his hands with a flourish, "Team 3… meet Sakura, your new teammate."_

 _Sakura stared at everyone in her new team, Kakashi's goddamn smirk, Shisui's excited smile, and Tenzo's welcoming wave a few feet away. She felt Shisui's arms still encased around her, his once unwelcomed warmth seeping in and leaving a warm feeling inside. She hadn't felt this warm since Papa had been alive, when her family had been whole._

 _If these people are with her then maybe…_

 _Just maybe…_

 _Anbu wouldn't be so bad after all._

 _Sakura smiled brightly for the first time since her mother's death, "I may be young, inexperienced, and have a little bit of trouble at first but I will do my best! Please take care of me!" bowing low with Shisui's arms around her stomach before Shisui to threw her over his shoulders and onto his back with a deep laugh. Confused she turned to look at the other two for guidance._

" _Sakura-san," Tenzo said, smiling, "Forgive Shisui, he's a bit strange." ignoring Shisui's loud complaint he continued,_

" _Welcome to team 3."_

…

Sakura woke up with a jolt, jerking her limbs as she scrambled out of her makeshift bed. Panting she lurched forward and ran to a nearby bush as she hurled whatever was in her stomach onto the forest floor. Sweat dribbled down her face as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Once she was relatively calm, Sakura glanced up at the sky to gauge the time.

An hour or so before sunrise.

Swearing, Sakura hurriedly gathered her belongings before making her way back home. She had run low on chakra after healing one of the nearby villages and had decided to rest on the village outskirts before traveling back. Unable to help herself, Sakura felt her lips quirk in mild amusement, apparently her body decided that she needed rest, making her oversleep.

She had to get back home and change before Biwako woke up, and Sakura's been making sure Biwako's been waking up with the sun as a part of her training. Sakura wanted to groan at the thought of explaining her nightly activities to Biwako. She would never hear the end of it.

In the past few weeks or so, she had been traveling to nearby villages almost every night, helping those who needed healing or growing crops at villages with famine with her clan's kekkei genkai, the Maji.

The latest village Sakura had decided to help was small, riddled with diseases and it took Sakura longer than she thought to handle it all. She had to sterilize the entire village before making various ointments for the villagers before healing them with her chakra, after that she had left detailed instructions on how to avoid another epidemic by maintaining a clean environment.

All in one night.

Sakura sighed, rubbing her face wearily as she made her way inside her small cabin that she had made when she and Biwako first arrived in the forest. From healing and making life easier for villages at night to training Biwako and growing medicinal herbs in the day, she had her work cut out for her.

Once she had finished changing out of her old Anbu clothes and had slipped Kakashi's dog mask somewhere where Biwako wouldn't be able to reach, Sakura scribbled a note for Biwako to meet her outside before ambling out into a nearby field of grass to meditate. She was close enough so that Biwako should be able to find her with no trouble if she went looking, and far enough that Sakura would have enough time to meditate for a decent amount before Biwako came looking. True to her word, Biwako came tumbling out of their cabin with sleepy eyes and a big yawn half an hour later.

Sakura smiled gently as she got up to greet her young pupil, "Good morning Biwako-chan."

Smiling at Biwako's mumbled greeting, she slowly led her to a nearby stream, a few feet away from their cabin.

They stood there for a few minutes before Biwako broke the silence.

"Why are we here? And how come I don't get to break my fast before doing this?"

Sakura smirked before sliding into one of Tatsuo's favorite taijutsu stances, "We'll be doing what my teacher had once done to me. Before you leave today you have to beat me in taijutsu. Land one hit, and I'll consider that a win. Until then, you won't be able to eat or rest. One hit, understood?" Seeing Biwako snap to attention at the thought of not eating for an indefinite amount of time before nodding, Sakura continued, "We start now!" before lunging at her pupil.

…

Sakura had sparred with Biwako for a good hour or so before Biwako had knelt over in exhaustion. She was doing a lot better than before, and Sakura was proud with her growth. At the rate Biwako was growing, she would be a formidable kunoichi even though she had trouble harnessing chakra.

She still hadn't managed a hit, so Sakura was giving her a short break to recuperate before they continued their spar. Even though Sakura was holding back, Biwako was progressing quickly enough that she may be able to land a hit on her before nightfall. Creating a two water clones, Sakura gave one quick instructions to travel to a nearby village and gather information on anything that seemed interesting, and the other to hunt some game for Biwako as dinner. With the amount of energy Biwako had used in sparring with her, she would need that nutrition. After sending them off, Sakura waved at Biwako, "Ready for round two?"

"Hai!"

Grinning, Sakura waited for Biwako to get up before launching herself at her snarling apprentice.

…

"Mokuton: hana-tsukuri no jutsu!"

Sakura smiled happily as several small flowers grew in front of her. Crouching down, she beckoned Biwako over.

"What can you tell me about this herb?" she asked, pointing to the small red flowers.

Sakura watched amusedly as Biwako's face brighten, she knew this herb. "It's Poppy! It's used to help improve digestion and help in making red blood cells… and… and it helps people sleep better!"

Smiling, Sakura grew several different herbs before pointing at the one closest to her, "what about this one?"

"That one's chamomile! It's used to help treat hay fever, muscle spasms, menstrual problems and treating wounds!"

"And this?"

"Peonies! It's used for menstrual cramps, causing abortions, making you vomit, and used to treat upset stomachs and muscle cramps!"

Sakura beamed at Biwako, proud of her success, "Since you identified and listed the correct properties to each herb, lessons are over for today," smiling warmly at her pupil, "Good work today, Biwako."

Seeing Biwako nod and scamper off, Sakura turned her attention back to the herbs, she had to make more. For Konoha.

Just in case.

…

"Sakura-sensei!"

Sakura looked on, smiling at her small pupil that was a good distance away from her. Biwako was crouching down at the edge of a nearby stream a few feet away from the main road.

"Be careful not to fall in!" she called out before slowly making her way to her student.

Since Biwako had trouble grasping chakra and had yet to strengthen her muscles, they couldn't travel using trees just yet. She had to work on her balance before they could attempt to do that. Any sooner and Sakura was worried that Biwako might hurt herself.

Sakura sighed when Biwako shrieked, flailing into the stream with a loud splash. Sakura came to a stop at the edge of the stream when Biwako dragged herself out of the shallow waters.

Sakura giggled, "If you wanted to go swimming instead of the village you could have just said so." She crouched down and with a simple seal, began drawing the water out of Biwako's clothes.

Biwako huffed, cheeks pink, she turned her head to the side as she stood to avoid Sakura's amused gaze.

Laughing, Sakura clapped Biwako on the back, ignoring her student stumble, "Come on, we still have a few minutes before we reach the village," seeing Biwako pout, she continued, "I'll buy dango for lunch… and I promise to teach you how to travel through the trees after we come back," seeing Biwako brighten, Sakura ruffled Biwako's hair before wrapping her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders.

"Let's go."

…

Sakura and Biwako entered the village in silence.

Biwako in awe, the last time they had visited, many of the villagers had been sick, but now, the conditions of everything were much better. Everyone seemed lively.

Sakura was silent to observe, wanting to see how the villagers had been faring since she had healed them weeks prior. They seemed to be in good health, many were walking around with a healthy color to their faces.

They walked past the entrance of the market, stopping at the closest booth to observe the merchandise. Biwako had wandered off after begging Sakura for some coins to buy whatever she wanted at a nearby booth. Sakura picked up a small headpiece, a flower attached to a headband. It was a good quality piece, the flower was delicate and well made, the headband's fabric was sturdy.

"How much for this?" Sakura asked, lifting the pretty ornament to the booth owner, a middle-aged man with a large mustache.

"20 ryo," the shop keeper said.

Sakura couldn't help but blanch, that was pretty expensive. As Sakura forked over the money, she couldn't help but ask, "What happened to this village? The last time I had visited, the village was in bad condition."

Sakura watched with sharp eyes as the man handed her change, "There was a sickness spreading through the villagers a few weeks back. Nothing the village healers did worked, and the villagers had prayed to the kamis for help. The kamis sent a guardian who took the form of a dog, healed us and grew us crops so we could survive," the man shook his head, "Never in my years had I ever seen the kamis bless this village, and when we needed them the most, they saved us!"

Sakura's lips quirked, "That's quite a miracle."

The man beamed, "Indeed! And…" he leaned over, voice hush, "the kamis bestowed the same blessing to other villages nearby… Just this morning, word came that a village a day's travel away had been saved by the same guardian the night before. Word has spread past the land of rain and villages from the land of fire are seeking this guardian for protection from the Kaguya clan."

Sakura froze, "The Kaguya clan?"

The man nodded eagerly, "Yes! The Kaguya clan who're rumored to descend from Kaguya Otsutsuki herself. They've been terrorizing villages in the land of fire… and already have destroyed three villages. The neighboring villages are terrified that the Kaguya clan will target them next. They've been fleeing to this village or villages near here for safe-haven."

Sakura leaned against the table, "I heard that the Uchiha and Senju clans have created an alliance, and that other clans have been gathering to form a village… these villages have not been seeking aid from this new village?"

The man crossed his arms, scoffing, "The two clans that have been warring for more than a century suddenly decide to forge an alliance? Those shinobi are violent barbarians who care for nothing but their own. The other villagers have been betting that the village won't last more than a few years before they attempt to murder each other."

Sakura nodded, contemplatively, "Indeed…" and idea sparked, "Excuse me, mister shop keeper?" when the older male nodded for her to continue, "May I ask what your name is?"

The older male began to laugh awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "U-uh missus. As lovely as it is talking to you, I have a wife and two kids and am quite happy with my life, thank you very-"

Sakura's cheeks turned scarlet, "N-no! I didn't mean that! I just wanted to know your name!"

Relaxing slightly, the man laughed, cheeks pink, "Sota Watanabe."

Sakura fished out her coin purse and handed him the bag, it had at least a thousand ryo. "I would like for you to continue giving me information. Anything out of the ordinary or rumors from neighboring villages about anything worth noting. Anytime I visit and you have information to give, I will pay you as well as today… would you like to continue?"

Sakura watched calmly as Sota counted the money, eyes growing larger with every hundred ryo. He looked at her, stunned, "Why would you give me this much? This is at least years' worth of salary!"

Sakura smiled faintly, the image of her teammates etched into the back of her eyelids. "I have people I need to protect and gathering information will help me do so," she looked directly into Sota's eyes, studying him intensely, "Will you help me do it?"

Sota slowly slid Sakura back her bag, "I don't know who you are… or what you do… but if your reason to do this is to protect your loved ones… I'd gladly help you."

Sakura blinked in surprise, the other informants had accepted her payment… this was a first, "Thank you."

Sota beamed brightly, "Now that we got this far… may I know the name of my employer?"

Sakura smirked, eyes dancing with intensity, "You can call me whatever you wish, but apparently you said that the villages have been calling me guardian sent by the kamis."

…

"Biwako!"

Sakura smiled as Biwako looked up at her from where she was sitting before waving wildly for her to come over. She was just a few feet away from her before Biwako began chattering excitedly about what she had bought. Sakura listened intently and made noises when appropriate, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She had to start sending hawks to her informants for them to keep, but she had to train them to track her down. Mentally groaning, Sakura silently made a checklist of things to do.

Send her hawks out to her informants, telling them specifically to use those hawks to communicate with her when they have information. And she needed to make another camp and some safehouses…

Sakura was thrown out of her musing when Biwako sighed loudly, "Sakura-sensei! You haven't been paying attention to me! And you still haven't bought me dango like you promised!"

Sakura chuckled, ruffling her student's hair, nostalgically remembering when Kakashi had done that to her and she had threatened to stab him. "I did, didn't I? I'll buy you another plate as an apology."

…

When night had fallen, Sakura set her plan into motion. She held up drawings of her informants to each hawk, "Each of you will be sent to one of these men, when they have information to send, you will come to me… understood?"

The hawks screeched in understanding, some flapping their wings in agreement. Sakura nodded in approval, before sending them off one by one to their new owners.

Sakura watched the night sky as the last one flew out of sight. She had finally created a network of informants, the last one being made this morning. Sighing, she looked away from the sky to look out into the forest, using her chakra to scan her surroundings. Her traps had been laid and tonight was the night that Sakura was taking a break and sleeping for once. Biwako had begun to notice the bags under her eyes and had commented on it when they had gone out to eat dango.

Sakura straightened when she felt a chakra signature flickering.

Someone was injured.

Taking off, Sakura darted out into the forest, heading east toward the river Biwako had fallen into just hours before. Sakura came to a stop at the edge and watched with wary eyes as she saw a small body float down the river.

It was a boy.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. He looked familiar… she moved closer to the body and scooped him up, running a glowing green hand across the boy's body. He was about a head shorter than her and half a head taller than Biwako. The boy had a fever and a few scratches on him, it wasn't serious, but he was mostly exhausted. Healing his wounds quickly and drawing out the water from his clothes, Sakura lifted his body and made her way home.

Once she laid him down on her bed, Sakura studied the boy with sharp eyes. She was sure the boy was someone she knew in the future… but who?

Sighing she grabbed a tome from her desk and made herself comfortable on a nearby chair. Even through the boy was young and she had brought him into her home, she didn't trust him enough to leave him alone. She had Biwako to think of, and she would never forgive herself if something happened to her because she got careless. As much as she hated it, her pupil had grown on her… like a fungus, gross and annoying to something worth protecting.

…

Sakura ran a hand through her hair frustrated. She had looked through her medical texts and old clan journals in an attempt to identify what was blocking Biwako's ability to use chakra. Which led to the main question.

Why couldn't Biwako use chakra? Her chakra coils were developing normally and her reserves aren't big, she should be able to harness chakra without any problem. Her system wasn't defective like Lee's and Sakura had done everything she could think of to help her.

Sakura didn't know what to do. She felt her eyes water in frustration.

She wanted her teammates next to her. And as much as she hated it, she wanted Kakashi to ruffle her hair and tell her everything would be alright. She wanted Naruto to hug her and Sasuke to awkwardly pat her back as he tried to comfort her. She wanted Yamato to encourage her and Sai to call her 'ugly' before pointing out the reasons why she shouldn't cry.

Most of all, she wanted her Tobirama, the one who she knew and trusted. The one who would callously tell her to find a solution and that failure wasn't an option. She wanted her Tobi who would smile at her when she did a good job, and the one who helped her when she was stuck. Her Tobirama, who had fanned her will of fire and taught her so many things. She wanted him next to her, his hand on top of hers as he silently gave her his support.

She missed him. And the Tobirama in this time period wasn't her Tobirama, he hadn't gone through the same things her Tobi had. Although older than her, he was young and different. He hadn't seen the things that scarred him so much in her time.

Which was good. But it wouldn't be long for things to run its course and the events that hurt her Tobi fall into place.

Could she handle that? Letting it happen?

Should she change the future so that Tobirama could live a better life… was she willing to pay the price?

Definitely.

But she wasn't sure what else would change. Would they still win the Fourth Great Shinobi War? Or would they lose? Would Tsunade still be the Godaime Hokage? Would Naruto's parents, the Yondaime Hokage and the Red-Hot Habanero live? Would the Uchiha Massacre, still happen?

In the end, was all of that worth it? Would her selfish wish justify everything else that happens afterward? They had won the war, Konoha was in peace, and everyone was happy.

That should be enough.

Tobi had constantly told her that he thought of the village's children as his own. He was happy with his life, without a lover and without a legacy. Technically Hiruzen was his legacy, his student who had inherited his will of fire, but he had no children, no one to continue his line.

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a moan from her bed. Lowering her tome, she carefully walked around her scattered clan journals and medical texts toward the waking boy. She leaned forward and gasped when the boy's eyes snapped open.

She knew those eyes.

"Who are you?"

* * *

So... can anyone guess who the boy is? What did you think of this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Review and let me know please!


End file.
